The Modern Novel in America, 1900-1950

The Modern Novel in America, 1900-1950

The Modern Novel in America, 1900-1950

Excerpt

The modern novel in America examines the history of the twentieth-century American novel in terms of the two primary issues involved in its progress. On the one hand, there is the point of view largely emphasized by Henry James of "the art of fiction." The opening chapter discusses James's preoccupations with technique and method, together with their implications for the development of a critical aesthetic of the novel. One other principal issue, largely defined by the naturalists at the turn of the century, concerned the social relevance of a novel's materials, its philosophical grounding in a view of man and society, and the consequent discussion of a novelist's social responsibilities. The second chapter is largely concerned with this issue. Once these two tendencies have been established, this book examines the American novel of 1900 to 1950 in the following divisions: the work of Willa Cather and Ellen Glasgow and the influence of James upon each; the contribution made by Gertrude Stein to the art of those novels written after the first World War; the novelists of the 1920's, with detailed attention paid to the work of Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald; the two widely separated points of view in the fiction of the 1930's, indicated under the heading "violence and rhetorical purpose"; and, finally, a consideration of the novels of the 1940's, as these show both a continuation of developments seen earlier in the century and the introduction of new or newly perfected skills and insights.